Atreya Thomas's Blog, page 3

Do Not Let the Mind Bully the Heart

Never let the reactions of the mind eclipse the feelings of the heart. In other words, anger, irritation and anxiety; are the minds reactions and helpful pointers to our actual feelings of disappointment, fear, loneliness, and feeling unheard etc. When we learn to express these primary heart feelings, we are free to feel and keep the heart open; but expressing a reaction always closes the heart because it’s not from the heart but from the minds primitive protective mechanism.-Atreya Thomas

Awakening does not Mature the Heart

If we continue to seek transcendence to address matters within the human condition, the heart will be neglected and never mature. We transcend the mind to discover our unblemished self or choiceless awareness. It is precisely from this awareness that we are now capable of making the choice between the hearts feelings and the minds reactions.If we do not reconcile this relationship, we will be able to expound the secrets of the universe and make lightening shoot from the sky, yet will not be able to express simple vulnerable feelings like disappointment or fear. The heart will close and the mind will be empowered under the guise of supreme wisdom, while the heart remains belittled and unheard.-Atreya Thomas

Unpolished Feelings

Can we hold a heartfelt feeling like fear, disappointment and shame; an uncut diamond without trying to polish it, refine or make it look pretty? Just hold it in our awareness without letting the mind impose its reaction to destroy it with anxiety, anger, or irritation?-Atreya Thomas

Intelligence

When we learn to discern the minds reactions from the hearts feelings, we bring intelligence to emotion, grace to the transient; and love to the human condition.-Atreya Thomas

Feel Without Imposition

Can we allow our heart to feel without letting the mind impose upon it, deconstruct it, destroy or explain the feelings away? It is here alone that our feelings will then undergo a mutation; as the entire weight of the universe descends upon the ego; and implodes it from the center.-Atreya Thomas

"Is the personality an illusion?"

The beauty of a rainbow is its diversity of colors, yet together they are all pure light. Likewise when pure awareness passes through the prism of humanity it creates the beauty of our unique personality. Yet, in essence it is only the One White Light.-Atreya Thomas

Even More Difficult

We must surrender and give up every ounce of our power to God; but even more difficult, we must be willing to receive it all back.-Atreya Thomas

Atreya Thomas: Video "Mastering the Heart, Forgotten Zen" Online Satsang Hosted by Open Circle 4/22/2018

Master the Heart

First we have to transcend the mind by inquiring who am I in spite of thought and my body? Once we catch a glimpse of our Eternal nature, we then begin to drop our investments in preserving “me and mine.” In other words, dropping the mental energy we use in protecting mental concepts, opinions, should and should not, etc. All that extra energy begins to gather in the heart.Once the heart opens, we become extremely almost overly sensitive to feelings and sensations. Once we are there, we must discern old reactions and protective mechanisms such as anger, irritation etc. from the authentic feelings underneath them. Otherwise, the heart will inevitably close again due to the inability to discern.-Atreya Thomas